Carol Tomé, UPS CEO, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss how the company is planning to navigate the peak shipping season, the tight labor market and vaccine delivery.
Category: UPS News
Going back to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic reaching United States shores in March 2020, there have been significant shifts and changes, in terms of supply chain planning and operations, for both logistics services and freight transportation providers and shippers alike.
A major reason for that goes back to how pandemic-related lockdowns left myriad consumers at home, ordering goods online, at a pace that far outmatched anything that had ever been seen prior to that point. But just because there was a pandemic, by any stretch, did that mean that there would not be a holiday season in 2020. Instead, it was quite the opposite, with e-commerce activity moving the chains to a holiday season first down, of sorts. But there were penalties along the way, too, with this frenetic e-commerce activity constraining parcel networks and also restricting the amount of available capacity needed.
That was the case for Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services bellwether UPS, during the 2020 Peak Season, too. In the mainstream media, much was made about how Big Brown implemented shipping restrictions on some household name retailers like Gap, L.L. Bean, and Nike, among others. To be sure, large retailers like these drive a significant portion of UPS’s Peak Season surge volume, something which becomes more heightened at the busiest and most hectic period of the year.
FedEx and UPS also have added a series of surcharges and other higher fees
Shipping rates are going up faster than they have in nearly a decade, increasing pressure on merchants to raise prices or find other ways to offset higher costs.
FedEx Corp. on Monday said shipping rates would go up an average of 5.9% next year across most of its services, the first time in eight years that it or rival United Parcel Service Inc. has strayed above annual increases of 4.9%.
UPS is expected to release its rate increase for 2022 in the coming weeks. The two carriers have moved in lockstep with their annual price increases since at least 2010, according to Transportation Insight LLC, a supply-chain management and logistics firm.
The move away from a 4.9% annual increase shows how the pricing power has shifted to carriers like FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service, which have seen demand for their shipping capacity and home delivery soar during the pandemic. The higher-than-normal rate hike also is a sign of inflation reverberating across the global supply chain.
On a crystal clear September morning 20 years ago, the world changed forever.
In less than three hours, a total of 2,977 lives were lost in New York City, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in a coordinated terrorist attack. For those old enough to remember, the images are forever seared into our collective conscious.
In remembrance of the lives lost and the heroic acts of so many on that fateful morning, 207 UPSers from 43 states and nine countries joined as one global team to participate in the 9/11 Promise, a run/bike/walk event dedicated to honoring and raising funds for children of first responders and military personnel who answered the call with great courage.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this journey to remember the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks,” said Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laura Lane. “It was an honor to run alongside all of the UPSers who participated around the world.”
Chargé d’affaires Jennifer Bachus and Christina Sharkey, Commercial Counselor, participated in the ceremonial opening of UPS’s new Prague package sorting and delivery facility in Tuchoměřice. Jennifer Bachus mentioned in her remarks: “UPS has made a smart bet on the Czech Republic. You can see the upward trajectory of this country, you see the growing export potential, and you know that an investment here will pay off in the long term.”
The facility marks UPS’s largest-ever investment in the country and strengthens the connection between the Czech Republic and UPS’s global network. Spread across 9,000m2 and fitted with the latest package sorting technology, the center is capable of sorting 5,000 packages per hour, which is five times more than the facility it replaces in Ruzyně. The new facility is part of UPS’s multi-year, U.S.-European investment plan, which has modernized and expanded the UPS network across Europe. “Our investment in Tuchoměřice represents more than an investment in UPS and our capabilities – it’s an investment in our customers and their potential for growth and success. Located in the heart of central Europe, this new facility will play a vital role in import and export growth throughout the Czech Republic and Europe, today, and in the years to come,” said Ufku Akaltan, President of UPS East Europe District.